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Martin Robertson

About this Artist

MARTIN ROBERTSON studied at the Royal College of Music with Stephen Trier and John McCaw, winning several honors, including the Boosey & Hawkes Woodwind Prize.

He made his recital debut at the Purcell Room in 1986. Numerous BBC Radio 3 recitals have included two concerts for the 'New Waves' series, featuring the composers Mark-Anthony Turnage and Gavin Bryars, and recitals with Tony Gray at the Tate Gallery, London.

Robertson was the soloist for Turnage's saxophone concerto, Your Rockaby, premiered at the Royal Festival Hall in 1994 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Andrew Davis. Your Rockaby has since been performed by Robertson in Glasgow and in the 1996 Prom season with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival with the English Northern Philharmonia, and with the London Philharmonic at the Royal Festival Hall. It was also the featured work in an episode of the BBC TV series The British Century.

In 1996, he was a soloist in the premiere and European tour of Turnage's Blood on the Floor, with John Scofield, Peter Erskine, and the Ensemble Modern. Subsequent performances have been with the Hamburg Philharmonic, the Avanti! ensemble in Finland, a tour in Britain with the Ensemble Modern, with the CBSO and Sir Simon Rattle in Birmingham, London, and Vienna, at the 2000 Ojai Festival with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and with the Tampere Philharmonic, Finland.

In 1995, he was featured soloist with the London Philharmonic in Bernard Herrmann's Taxi Driver Suite, given as part of the Meltdown Festival, and in 1999 he recorded the same work with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. In 2000 he performed the Glazunov Concerto with the BBC Scottish Symphony in Glasgow, and in 2002 the Villa-Lobos Concerto with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Most recently, Robertson performed Blood on the Floor with the Berlin Philharmonic and Rattle, the same piece with the Remix Ensemble in Portugal, Milhaud's Scaramouche with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, and several works at the Turnage season at the Barbican.

Martin Robertson frequently works on film and television soundtracks, and credits include Stephen Warbeck's Mrs. Brown as taragato soloist, clarinet soloist in Shakespeare in Love, Quills, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Billy Elliott, and Charlotte Gray. Most recently, as a specialist in Middle-Eastern wind instruments, he recorded music for the feature films Long Time Dead, Birthday Girl, Crush, and Mickey Blue Eyes, as well as the TV film Lorna Doone. Robertson also produced and was featured on Turnage's TV opera Killing Time. Robertson has made over 55 recordings, including Turnage's Greek, Your Rockaby, Blood on the Floor (Argo), Sarabande and On all Fours (NMC), solo Turnage pieces with the Nash Ensemble (Black Box), and Frank Martin's Ballade (Chandos).

Martin Robertson has taken part in many education workshops for the London Philharmonic and the Glyndebourne Education Department, and teaches at the Royal College of Music.